Actor-Comedian Dudley Moore Dies at Age 66
CNN -- British comedian and actor Dudley Moore has died aged 66 at his home in New Jersey after a long illness.
Moore, was best known for his comic performance as a drunk millionaire in the 1981 film "Arthur" and his role as a composer grappling with a midlife crisis in the 1979 hit "10."
In His Words
"Yes I feel angry, that's true -- to be reduced to this insignificant version of myself is overpowering."
-- Dudley Moore in 1999
He died of pneumonia as a complication of progressive supranuclear palsy, his publicist said.
Publicist Michelle Bega said the actor died at 11 a.m. EST on Wednesday of pneumonia as a result of his brain disorder. The funeral arrangements are pending and a memorial service is planned, she said.
Moore suffered from progressive supranuclear palsy, which attacks brain cells and impairs mental and motor functions.
He was last seen in public in Britain in November last year when he traveled to London to receive an honor from the Queen.
The frail-looking star of "10" and "Arthur" remained seated in a wheelchair as he received his CBE (Commander of the British Empire) from Prince Charles.
Moore's illness robbed him of his speech and rendered him virtually immobile.
Announcing his illness in 1999, he said: "I understand that one person in 100,000 suffers from the disease and and I am also aware that there are 100,000 members of my union, the Screen Actors Guild, who are working every day.
"I think, therefore, it is in some way considerate of me that I have taken on the disease for myself, thus protecting the remaining 99,999 members from this fate."
But in a later interview for the BBC he was less casual. He said: "It's totally mysterious the way this illness attacks and eats you up, and then spits you out," he once told the BBC.
"There's always this feeling of 'Why did it hit me?' and I cannot make peace with it because I know I am going to die from it.
"Yes I feel angry, that's true -- to be reduced to this insignificant version of myself is overpowering."
In a career spanning more than 30 years, Moore won Tony awards, a Grammy, two Golden Globes, as well as an Oscar nomination.
He set up the Dudley Moore Research Fund, dedicated to finding a cure for PSP and the charity Music for All Seasons, which takes live music into hospitals, homes for the elderly and prisons.
Moore was a musical prodigy as a child and won a music scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford, to study the organ.
He left university an accomplished jazz pianist and performed widely before finding fame with "Beyond The Fringe," a comedy revue with Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Alan Bennett.
In his native Britain, Moore is still best known for his comedy partnership with the late Cook in the 1960s and 1970s.
Their collaboration on the legendary TV shows "Not Only -- But Also" and "Derek and Clive" paved the way for Moore's Hollywood career as an unlikely romantic leads.
He married four times -- to actresses Suzy Kendall, Tuesday Weld, Brogan Lane and Nicole Rothschild -- and had two sons.
Paule is Walnuts
